Making Performance Information More Useful

Performance measurement is precise, and thrives when definitions are clear, baselines are stable, goals are predictable, and reporting is systematic. Yet successful performance is achieved through a dynamic, discontinuous, and often messy process.

Only 50 percent of federal managers use performance information to help them run more effective programs. This percentage has not changed in more than a decade, according to two Government and Accountability Office studies conducted in 1997 and 2008.